Meredith Belbin's Most Successful Teams Diverse Mix of Behaviours.ppt

The Belbin team roles are a framework developed by Dr. Meredith Belbin that identifies nine distinct behavioral traits that contribute to effective teamwork. The nine Belbin team roles are:
Coordinator: Focuses on getting the team organized and aligned, ensuring everyone's talents are utilized effectively. They have a strategic perspective and help the team move towards common goals.
Shaper: Provides the drive and energy to overcome obstacles. They are proactive, challenging and dynamic.
Completer Finisher: Ensures thorough, timely completion of tasks. They are attentive to detail and have a strong sense of urgency.
Teamworker: Supports and encourages team members, promoting harmony and cooperation. They are diplomatic and perceptive.
Plant: Generates new ideas and creative solutions. They are imaginative and unorthodox thinkers.
Monitor Evaluator: Analyzes problems objectively and makes sound judgments. They are strategic and discerning.
Resource Investigator: Explores new opportunities and develops external contacts and resources. They are outgoing and enthusiastic.
Implementer: Turns ideas into practical actions and solutions. They are efficient, reliable and task-oriented.
Specialist: Provides in-depth knowledge and expertise in a particular area. They are dedicated and single-minded.
The most effective teams have a balance of these nine roles, allowing the team to leverage the strengths of each member. Understanding one's own Belbin team role and the roles of team members can help improve team dynamics and performance.

To identify your primary and secondary Belbin Team Roles, you should complete the official Belbin Self-Perception Inventory and receive an Individual report. This is the only sanctioned way to determine your Belbin Team Role strengths and weaknesses.
The Belbin Self-Perception Inventory is an online assessment that provides insight into which Team Role behaviors you exhibit. After completing the inventory, you will receive a Belbin Individual report detailing your top Team Role contributions.
It's also recommended to ask for feedback from people you work with using the Observer Assessment. This gives you an updated Belbin Individual report which incorporates the Team Role behaviors others observe and value in you.
By completing the Belbin Self-Perception Inventory and receiving feedback from colleagues, you can gain a clear understanding of your primary and secondary Team Roles. This knowledge allows you to leverage your strengths and be aware of potential weaknesses when working in teams.

According to the Belbin resources, it is common for individuals to have multiple "preferred" or primary Belbin Team Roles:
Yes, people can have more than one primary Belbin Team Role:
The Belbin Individual Report will show a number of "preferred" roles for each person, which are the roles they can play most easily.
Typically, people have 2-3 preferred or primary Belbin Team Roles that come most naturally to them.

1. Team Roles
Learning Objectives
•Identify different team roles
•Understand the concept that an effective
team is a balancedteam
•Identify the uses of team roles to create
effective teams

2. Belbin
•Who is he?
•What did he do?
–Henley Management College –1950’s
–Apollo syndrome –bright teams don’t always
perform
–What makes teams succeed and fail?
•What did he discover?
–People perform different roles in a team
–Each role is important
–Need a balanced team
–Teams fail when they are imbalanced?
–Team members need to play to their strengths . . .
–. . . And recognise their limitations

3. Belbin team roles
Team roles
"A tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a
particular way."
•
Plant
Monitor
Evaluator
Teamworker
Specialist
Resource Investigator
Completer Finisher
Shaper
Co-ordinator
Implementer

4. Plants
•Characteristics
–Inventors, creative, radical thinkers, ‘out of the box’
–Independent, original, unorthodox, work alone, introverted (?)
•Weakness
–Ignore details,
–React strongly to criticism;
–Weak at communicating (unless on same wavelength)
•Team Function
–Problem solvers, ideas generators
•Potential Conflict
–Other Plants –compete for ideas
–Monitor Evaluators –take critical evaluation of ideas personally
–Implementers –clash of style and focus
“. . . Where there’s a problem, there’s a solution . . .”

5. Resource Investigators
•Characteristics
–Inquisitive, explorer opportunities, communicate inside and outside of
team
–Think on their feet, outgoing, enthusiastic, extroverted (?)
–Develop other people’s ideas or apply what they have seen elsewhere
•Weaknesses
–Over-optimistic
–Lose interest once initial enthusiasm has passed
•Team Function
–Bring ideas and resources back into the team, discover information
–Set up external contacts, negotiate with others, report team progress
•Potential Conflict
–Completers and Specialists –clash of style, lack of precision
“. . . Never reinvent the wheel . . . we could make a fortune out of that . . .”

6. Co-ordinator
•Characteristics
–Mature, confidant, trusting, worldly-wise, widely respected
–Good at delegation, utilise others’ talents
–Clarifies goals, Get others to work towards a shared goal
•Weaknesses
–Can be seen as manipulative and Machiavellian
–Over-delegates, delegates personal tasks
•Team Function
–Managing diverse and talented teams
–Diplomacy, calmly tackling problems
•Potential Conflict
–Shapers –clash of style and emphasis
“Let’s keep the main objective in sight . . . Has anyone anything to add?”

7. Shaper
•Characteristics
–Highly motivated, lots of nervous energy, need for achievement
–Strong drive, extroverted, competitive, show emotions clearly
–Like to lead and push others, headstrong, assertive, thrive under
pressure, dynamic, challenging, courageous
•Weaknesses
–Single-minded and argumentative, lack interpersonal understanding
•Team Function
–Generate action, spark the team into life, bang heads together
–Take tough decisions, flush out problems, implement change
•Potential Conflict
–Implementers –change established systems and methods
–Monitor Evaluators –ignored and over-ridden
“. . . I’ll get things moving . . . This is what we need to do . . .”

8. Monitor Evaluators
•Characteristics
–Serious, prudent, evaluative, strategic, shrewd, seldom wrong
–Analytical, consider all aspects, pinpoint drawbacks and
oversights
•Weaknesses
–(Appear to) lack enthusiasm, slow to make decisions,
–Can be over-critical, low profile
•Team Function
–Weigh up pro’s and con’s
•Potential Conflict
–Plants –over-critical
–Other MEs -paralysis by analysis
–Completers –clash of style and pace
“Give me some time to think it through . . . Let’s weigh up the alternatives”

9. Team Workers
•Characteristics
–Supportive, sociable, concerned about others,
–Good listeners, perceptive, diplomatic
–Flexible, adaptable, unfazed
•Weaknesses
–Indecisive in crunch situations, easily influenced
•Team Function
–Diffuse interpersonal problems, diplomats, enhance morale
•Potential Conflict
–Shapers –unsettle TWs, over-pressurise
“. . . Good idea . . . What do you think? . . . Come on we can do this . . .”

10. Implementers
•Characteristics
–Efficient, self-controlled, disciplined, hard-working, organised
–Company-loyal, reliable, dependable, competent
•Weaknesses
–Lack spontaneity, rigid, bureaucratic and fussy,
–Slow to respond to new situations and change
•Team Function
–Organiser, work out what is feasible, turn ideas into action
plans
•Potential Conflict
–Plants and Resource Investigators –too change focused
–Other Implementers –bureaucracy, boundary disputes
“ . . .let’s get down to the task in hand . . . This is what we need to do . . .”

11. Completer Finishers
•Characteristics
–Detail focused, conscientious, follow-through, high standards
–Seek closure, dislike loose ends, spot errors and omissions.
•Weaknesses
–Poor at delegation, a bit of a worrier, nit-picking
–Tendency to be intolerant with people who are imprecise or casual
•Team Function
–Foster sense of urgency, encourage everyone to meet deadlines
–Look for others to initiate action
•Potential Conflict
–Resource Investigators –see them as fussy and nit-picking
“. . . We need to make sure this is right . . .who’s checked this? . . .”

12. Specialists
•Characteristics
–Dedicated technical experts, specialised knowledge,
professional
–Single minded, focused, self-starters,
•Weaknesses
–Lack interest in other peoples’ work
–Dwells on technicalities and definitions, misses bigger picture
•Team Function
–Provide rare niche skills, in depth experience
•Potential Conflict
–Shapers and Resource Investigators –interfere in Specialist’s
territory, do not give enough space
–Plants –(intellectually) challenge the established wisdom of the
Specialist
“ It is better to know a lot about something, than a little about everything.”

13. Key Activities of team Roles
Ideas
Doers
Checkers
Drivers

14. Interesting . . .
But how do we use it?
The areas to apply Belbin
Is our team balanced?
–Is our team working right?
•
Play to people’s strengths.
–What is the best job for this person?
–Who is the best person for this job?
•
Relationship building
–Why has someone behaved like this?
–Why don’t I get on with this person?
–How should I deal with this person?